Knicks’ fourth loss to Celtics, though close, doesn’t come with a silver lining

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NEW YORK — A 50-win team doesn’t get silver linings. There’s no consolation prize or participation trophy when investments are this high. To be the best, you have to show you can beat the best. And, for the umpteenth time this season, the New York Knicks failed to do that.

New York got perhaps one last opportunity Tuesday night to show the basketball world that it’s worth taking seriously as a title contender. A near-full-strength showdown with the defending champion Boston Celtics, who were missing Al Horford, during the final week of the regular season was the Knicks’ final chance before the playoffs to rectify beatdown after beatdown after beatdown that Boston had previously handed to them.

These were two teams trying to send a message to each other. With both squads having their postseason fates nearly nailed down, No. 3-seeded New York trotted out its best players in an attempt to show it wasn’t as fragile as it once appeared. On the other side, the No. 2-seeded Celtics rolled with most of the players who have helped them get to the doorstep of the best road record in NBA history, while attempting to maintain the psychological edge over an opponent it might see in the second round of the playoffs.

For the first time, New York made Boston sweat. The Knicks didn’t get laughed off the national stage. For once, they made the Celtics look mortal. New York fell to Boston 119-117 in overtime.

It was a valiant effort by the Knicks, but it was a loss, yet another defeat to a top-three team. They’re 0-9 against the Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder, with one more matchup against Cleveland to come Friday, and who knows if the Cavaliers will take it seriously.

With the playoffs around the corner, New York could have slayed the proverbial dragon, shaken off its demons and walked into the playoffs believing. Instead, it goes into the playoffs still wondering what it has to do to get where it wants to go.

“They’re the defending champion,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Until someone proves they can beat them, they’re defending their championship. We know that there’s a lot of work for us to do.”

The theme for the Knicks has been the same all season: Play our best basketball going into the playoffs. Maybe this is what that looks like, if you need a silver lining to latch on to. Maybe it’s as simple as not getting embarrassed by the conference’s best. In Game 1, New York lost to Boston by 23 points. In Game 79, they lost by 2 in overtime. The games in between looked closer to that first meeting than the last one. Maybe New York has found a way to close the gap a little, but it still wasn’t enough.

The Knicks controlled most of the first half, looking as if they were going to get over the Celtic-sized hump, at least once. Boston’s poor 3-point shooting helped. Then, immediately to start the second half, the Celtics came out and pounced. To their credit, the Knicks cushioned the blow and fought back, like teams of that ilk are supposed to do. It was a back-and-forth contest for much of the final 24 minutes. In the end, though, the team that has the confidence of a champion didn’t fold, and the team with something to prove — and one that has thrived in clutch situations this season — made error after error in the game’s tightest moments.

With 3.1 seconds left in regulation and the Knicks leading by 3, Jayson Tatum was able to shake free of OG Anunoby and get a good look from 3. New York didn’t foul.

“We should have fouled,” Anunoby said. “I should’ve done the foul.”

In overtime, with the score tied at 107, the Knicks allowed Celtics wing Sam Hauser to get a wide-open layup off a dead-ball play simply because no one accounted for him.

“The thing is, when you go back in the game, that’s why you have to fight to win every possession — because, oftentimes, these games end up being a one-possession game,” Thibodeau said. “You go back and look, and that was off a dead-ball play. That’s miscommunication, right? We can be better with that. You don’t want to gift a great team points. Those things … we have to be better.”

In the fourth, there was more miscommunication in the pick-and-roll between Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart that led to a turnover and flimsy possession. Mikal Bridges dropped a pass in the corner that went out of bounds when Boston led by 3 with 13.1 seconds left in overtime. Jrue Holiday iced the game with free throws right after.

On a night when the Knicks were finally able to match the Celtics’ physicality and play for most of the game, they failed to be sharp mentally.

The good teams do everything sometimes. The great teams do everything all the time.

“We just have to execute better,” Brunson said. “It’s as simple as that. We shouldn’t have been in that position anyway, to be in overtime.”

It’s hard to beat a good team twice, let alone three and four times like the Celtics have New York. The Knicks are hoping the odds even out when basketball matters most, assuming they can get past the Detroit Pistons or Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs and get another crack at Boston.

But for now, all New York has is hope. Hope that a healthy, top-heavy roster can remain that way. Hope that there is another level it can still get to, despite being unable to do so consistently through 79 games. Hope that playing Boston closely once unlocks something psychologically, like believing they can hang with the defending champs if they get one more shot.

In all honesty, the Knicks’ postseason fate appears predetermined. Yet, there’s still enough time for New York to prove everyone wrong.

However, as has been the case all season, that’s easier said than done.

(Photo of OG Anunoby and Jaylen Brown: John Jones / Imagn Images)

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